Automatic coupling.



S. B. WHITE.

I AUTOMATlC COUPLING.

APPLICATIQN FILED ;uNE 10, 19.15.

Panted Janflamle.

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Inventor Attorneys Witnesses f sans; WHIEIE; or roRTsi/IOUTH, omo.

Auroivin'ric conge-LING:

Patented Jan'. 18,1916.

Appiafim filed miie 1d, 1915. serial ivd. 33,363.

To all whomit may maceta-'' Be it known that I, sin e'. Wam, a citizenof thef Unitedv States,- resid-ing, at` Portsmo'nth, in the county ofScioto: and` State of Ohio, have inventedaV newfand' use"- ful,Automatic Coupling,k of which the fol# lowing is a specification? Thepresent inventionlafpp'e'rtains to pipe couplings, and aims"y toprovidenove'l and improved meansfor automatically cou-'v plingtogether", the air,y steam or other pipe sections of pair of railroadoa'1's,\\"vvher`1the"` cars are coupled together, `s"o"th'at'it is notnecessary for the brakenan to manually couple the pipe se'otionstogetherasv usual:

One of the specific objects of the invention is the provision ofuniqnemeans for mounting the tubular members `vvhich arefemployed forcoupling' thepipev sections tofl gether, whereby said tubular members1may swingand slide *toy be properlycoupledto` gether under variousvconditions," when rounding a curve,` or when onetubu'lar meniber 'is outoff alinement with the other` for anyv reason Whatever.

Another specific object of the `invention is the provision of novelmeanscarried by the tubular members orbringingtliem into alinement andabutment: i

It is also within thescope of the inventiii yto provide an applianceofthe nature indify cated yWhich is'quite simple and inexpensive inconstruction, lWhich may, beycre'adily in=` stalled upon railway carsandcoaches, andy which Will serve'its oliice inapraotical and eiiicientmanner. f

Wah al@l foregoing and other inyectaan*v View which Will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention lres1des in the' coins4 bination andarrangement of'part's and in" the details of construction"y hereinafterdel scribedand claimed, itfbeing understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be' made Within thescope of what is claimed kWithout departingl from the spiritl of theinvention". The invention is illustrated in theaccom* panying drawing,ywherenty p Figure l is aA bottom View of the improved couplingy at theinitial moment of coupling. Fig.l 2` isf any enlarged longitudinal*section 1 thereof vta'len on the line 2 2 of Fig.' 1^.` Fig. 3 is anenlarged end v'ievsT of onef of thecoupling members. Fig.' 4 is alongitudinal seotionof the couplingmem-k berwta'ken ,on thel line 4-'4of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 1s ak perspective viewof one of the slidabley plates.Fig. 6 is a fragmental perspective vievv ofo'ne of the tubular members.Fig. 7 isa perspective-'view cal members.

In carrying outl the invention, hangers or supporting members l areattached to the end sills' S oi' they railwayV cars, the ha'Iiger'sflbeinglocated at'the-adjacent ends of the cars, andl the hangers l areprovided with spherical pockets or openings 2 therein Within which arejournaled for rotation in various' directions, spherical members 3.Plates 4- and 5 are `attached to the inner and outer sides of the*hangers lior holding the spherical members 3v Within' the hangers,y

and` said plates 4 and 5 are provided With openingsy @exposing saidsphericalv members. Said spherical members are provided with square `ornon-f'zircular bores l.

,Tubular members 8 are slidable through the boresZand are of square ornon-circular cross sect-ion Where they slide through the bores"7 to4`al'lovvthe members S to sliderrelative yto themembers 3, but to preventsaid members 8` from rotating with respect to said members 3'. To the`remote ends of the tubular members S are attached the hose sections 9Which are connected to the pipe sections (not shown) carried by thecars.

The present appliance may be employed for connecting theutrain or airpipe sections,'the' steam pipe sections, or other pipe sections carriedby the cars. i

Spiral" springs l0 have their larger ends bearing against the outerplates 5 of the hangersl', and'surround the tubular members 8, the`smaller ends of the springs lO bearing againstl collars l1 carried bythe tubular members S near theirouter ory adjacent'ends. These springsl0 tend to pro`- ject "theA tubular membersy 8y outwardly, and' allowsaid membersto yield When they abut against one another. i K

Collars 12 are clamped upon the tubular members 8 behind the hangers l,by means 'of one of the sp'he'ri-`r of set screws 13, and limitl theoutward movement of the tubular members 8 under the influence of thesprings 10.

Slidable plates 14 are carried by the inner plates 4 of th'ehangers 1,and are provided ,y with rectangular or non-circular opemngs Y.

15 through which the tubular'members eX- tend, whereby said tubularmembers arepermitted to oscillate vertically and horizontally to alimited extent, but are prevented from rotating about their axes. 'lheplates 14 are guided for vertical sliding movement Y bers 8 intoalinement and abutment, the

outer end of each member 8 is provided with an outstanding lugv 19Vadjacent the outer end of the oblique endsY face 17 as clearly seen byreference to Fig. 4. The end face 17 of the tubular member' 8 isdisposed ina vertical plane, whereby the lug 19 is arranged at one sideof the said mem-ber, while the other side of the member 8 carries ascoop-shaped guiding wing 20. This Wing has an arcuate basal portion 21soldered or otherwise secured to the respective side of thel member 8 atthe inner end of the end face 17 and the body portion 22 of the wing 2Oprojects from the basal portion 21.

v The body portion 22 of thewing and end face 17 diverge from oneanother, vas seen in Fig. 4, and the body portion 22 of the wing iscurved between its upper and lower edges, the portion 22 increasing inwidth from its basal to its free end. Y The portion 22 has upper andlower inturned ianges 28, and the portion 22 is provided with anoutstruck portion 24 adjacent the end faceV 17 of the member 8 forreceiving the lug 19 of the other coupling member 8..

The guide lugs 19 and wings 20 of the two tubular members 8 are locatedat opposite sides, due to the reversal of the two couplingvmembers, asseen in Fig. 1, and each wing 20 is arranged to receive the lug 19 ofthe other tubular member 8 when the parts are coupled together.Supposing the cars to be separated or uncoupled, the members 8 will beprojected by the springs 10 until the collars 12 bear aga-inst theplates 14, which limits the outward movement of Ithe members 8. Then,when the two cars are coupled together, the tubular members 8 will bemoved together, and the lugs 19 will be received or caught by theopposite wings V20, in order that the members 8 will properly abutagainst'oneanother to provide a `tight joint therebetween. Should themembers 8 'be spaced at different vertical planes, the lugs 19 inengaging the upper and lower inclined or converging flanges 28 ofthewings 20, will [bring themembers 8 into Vvthe same vertical plane, andthe lugs 19 in'bearing against land moving along the body portions 22ofl the wings, will move the members 8 .sidewise into alinement. Thelugs 19 are n'ally received in the outstruck portions 24 of the 'wings20, which causes the members 8 to aline and abut properly, the inclined.

faces `o1 the two tubular members bearing Ysnugly against one another.Vhen the members 8 are brought together, they will be moved against thetensionsof the springs 10, whereby the said springs serve to tightlyhold the. members 8 together, anddue to the fact that the members 8 lareslidable through the spherical members 3, they may slide and swingproperly when they; are brought to--` gether.` The members 8 may alsoswing relative tothe hangers 1 due to the move'- ments of the carsrelative to one another, but there is no liability ofthe members turningor rotating about their axes, which Ywould be liable to displace the.adj acent ends of the y members 8. NVhen the cars are uncoupled andseparated, the members 8 will leave one another.

The presentappliance is operable for a'utomatically connecting vthe pipesections when the carsl are coupled together, and withouttheintervention of the brakeman, which saves time and trouble.

The present coupling may not .only be usedupon railroad cars, butmayalso beV used for other purposes, Jforl connecting the pipes or hosesections with one another when theyare moved toward veach other.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as newv is:

Y 1. In an Vappliance of the character de-V scribed, a pair ofsupporting members,

spherical members carried thereby for oscil-` lations in variousdirections, tubular members of non-circular cross section slidablethrough said spherical members, the adjacent ends of the tubular membershaving cooperating guiding means for guiding the tubular Vmembers intoabutment, means for yieldablyY projecting the tubular members, movableplates carried by the supporting members and having non-circularopenings through which the tubular members extend, means for preventingthe rotation of the said plates, and means for limiting the movement ofthe tubular members.

2. In a coupling, a pair of tubular members having oblique end facesadapted to abut, each tubular member having an outstanding lug at theouter end of its face, a guiding wing having its basal portion at-vtached to each tubularmember at the inner end of itsrface, they 'winghaving a curved iso 1,168,692 body portion increasing in Width from itsbasal to its free end7 said body portion divergng from seid face andhaving inturned anges at its edges, and said body portion of the Winghaving an ontstruck portion adjacent seid face for receiving the lug ofthe other tubular member.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

SAM B. WHITE.

Witnesses:

FRANK GERLACH, HOWARD DAIRs.

Copies of thin patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

